“I was. Sometimes there are creatures in the cave.”
“If there are animals there, then the deer isn’t safe.”
“It will be safe,” he said.
She opened her mouth to object, and he wasn’t even sure how he could convince her otherwise. It would be safe, and yet, it involved the dragon, something he couldn’t reveal to her. Not yet. There would come a time for that; he was certain his sister was going to need to know about it. If she didn’t, then she might not believe he could offer the help that he intended.
“Just trust me that it’s going to be safe. There’s more than enough for you and Mother to eat.” If it came down to it, she would find the other deer, and she would realize they had plenty of meat for a long time. It was more than he’d left them even the last time.
“You don’t have to do this,” Kayla said.
Jason took her hands. “I do. I want to make sure that you and Mother are provided for.”
She took a deep breath. In that moment, some spark returned to her eyes. Maybe it was hope, though it seemed fleeting. He hoped he could keep it there for longer than just that moment, and he wished there was some way for her to maintain that sense of hope, and yet, he understood why it would be difficult. It was the same reason it was so difficult for him—or had been.
“I’m going to check on Mother,” Jason said.
She got to her feet, taking the wrapped meat to the stove. “I will prepare this for us.”
“Not all of it,” he said, offering a smile.
She shook her head. “Of course not.”
When he headed to the back room, he found his mother lying on the bed, staring straight ahead. Her eyes were open and she breathed steadily.
“Mother?”
She didn’t respond to him. Any hope she might have returned to the woman who had been up and active the day before was gone. Whatever had happened, it seemed to have been more than she could withstand.
Jason pulled the chair over, sitting next to her. He took her hands and squeezed. There was no strength in her hands as there had been before, and he found them frail, bony, the same way he found his mother.
“I’m going to have to leave for a little while,” he said.
It might have been his imagination, but it seemed as if her breathing quickened.
“I found enough food for you and Kayla to have while I’m gone. She’s preparing some venison now.”
His mother blinked.
“When I return, I hope there will be enough of a supply for us to not have to worry about food again.”
If he did this, if he found a way of deepening the connection between himself and the dragon, then hopefully the dragon would be willing to hunt with him more often. Thinking about how effortlessly the dragon had captured those two deer, Jason could imagine just how easy it would be for them to continue the hunt, to not have to worry about finding enough food. He might be able to capture enough that he could trade. Maybe he could even acquire a dragonskin coat. Not for him, but for his sister at least. Jason no longer needed the warmth a dragonskin coat would offer. He wasn’t even sure what would happen if he attempted to wear one. It might be too much for him, far warmer than anything he could tolerate.
“Kayla knows that I’m going. And she will make sure you’re safe.”
As he started to stand, his mother squeezed his hands.
It was the most emotion he’d seen from her.
Jason sat back down, remaining alongside her. She held on to his hands. Occasionally there would be another squeeze, but even that faded over time. She closed her eyes, breathing steadily.
When she did, he couldn’t help but wonder if he was making a mistake. Could he have been wrong about going on this journey? It meant leaving his family. His sister already struggled, and with his mother in this shape, Jason didn’t know if leaving was even something he should be doing. Yet, for them to have a future, he thought he needed to. It seemed the right thing to do, and it seemed as if it would provide a way for them to not have to worry the way they had every day for the last year.
It was more than that. The dragon needed his help.
For some reason, he could feel that. He might not be able to sense the hatch mates the same way that the dragon could, but Jason could detect that urgency and desire from the dragon.
If he didn’t do this, he understood what would happen if the Dragon Souls managed to reach the hatch mates before he did. They would gain control over a creature that could tolerate the ice and snow. How long would it be before they were able to completely subjugate these lands? To bring them into the rule of Lorach?
Jason doubted it would be all that long. Saving those dragons was another way of helping his family. It was the same reason he’d gone after the dragon before, working with Henry, and now he felt as if he needed to do it because he wanted to ensure there was safety for them.
He took another deep breath, sitting next to his mother, his mind made up. After a while, his sister called to him, letting him know the food was ready, and Jason tore himself free from his mother. Despite her frailty, she had a strong grip, and he had to pry his hands free.
Hopefully Kayla could get his mother to eat. Hopefully the two of them would be able to survive while he was gone. And hopefully he wouldn’t be gone all that long.
Despite that, he couldn’t help but worry that something would happen to them.
The people in the village had turned a blind eye to their needs ever since his father had died. They might recognize how they suffered, but they hadn’t done anything to help, not as they had for others.
With his mother’s sickness, it had made people even less inclined to help. Her helplessness was part of the problem.
Before heading to the kitchen, Jason pulled the dragon pearl from his pocket, pressing it on his mother’s chest, and focused on the heat within him. He shifted that, instead feeling for the cold all around him. That had been a source of even greater power. He drew upon that, letting it flow through him and into his mother. There came a surge, and it washed over her, sweeping through her.
As before, there seemed to be some sort of resistance, but with the ongoing pressure of the cold, he managed to override that resistance, and he felt something change within her.
Maybe it was that her breathing eased, or maybe it was something else, but either way, he recognized that something had just shifted.
Pocketing the dragon pearl, he straightened, looking around, and headed out to eat.
“How is she?”
“Resting,” Jason said.
“What were you doing in there?”
“Just sitting with her, why?”
“I don’t know. It’s just that I thought I felt…” She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. Why don’t we eat, and you can get some rest before you do whatever it is you plan for tomorrow.”
“I’m doing this for us,” he said.
“I hope so,” she said.
“I am. For you. For Mother.” Even for Father, but he couldn’t say that to his sister. Not yet. When this was done, then he could introduce her to the dragon. Then she could know the power that Jason had encountered. And she would understand why they wouldn’t have to fear any longer. But only after this was done.
She watched him as he started to eat but said nothing.
6
Jason made his way through the village, moving quickly toward the outskirts when he came across Tessa again. She was dressed in dragon skin, and she had a slingshot in hand. He frowned at her.
“What’s that for?”
Tessa glanced down, flushing slightly. “It’s nothing.”
“It looks like more than nothing.”